In the last few years, it’s been so exciting to witness the conversation around rest taking root and expanding in the yoga community. As a recovering over-doer, I’ve always credited yoga for helping me realize that we can just be. Personally, for me, learning to practice restorative yoga was a game-changer.

When I first came to yoga, I loved it for how strong and centered it made me feel in my body. I was an athlete all my life, and I needed to feel a level of strength and power to feel grounded and secure in my life.

But in 1998, just a few years into teaching yoga, I had a series of life and health crises, and as if overnight, the lifestyle I thrived in plummeted me—and all I had the energy to do was lie down on the ground. I had no choice but to turn to restorative yoga, which healed me in ways I didn’t even know I needed. It revealed a web of tension under my tightness that was keeping me from partnering with the earth and breath to promote my well-being. I needed to stop doing and start being—to strive less and relax more. This allowed me to begin a deeper process of developing a healing relationship with emotions, feelings, and trauma that had been buried in my body for years.

Many people think restorative yoga is just a nap on a mat. While that can be really nice, as well as an important form of self-care in our largely sleep-deprived lifestyles, restorative yoga is so much more than that. It is an alchemy of science and intention that can shift our inner chemistry and not only help us heal, but also to be more open, present, and energized in our lives, and transform the way we respond to the conditions within and around us.

To me, slowing down, turning inward, creating space for healing, and deeply listening to our body and heart is perhaps the most meaningful form of self-care work we can do. When we are more compassionate and connected with ourselves, we are able to be more compassionate and connected with others and the world around us. In this way, our practice not only benefits us, but it also benefits everyone we are in relationship with, and everyone we come into contact with.

This is truly why I practice, and why I’m so excited to be offering my virtual Restorative Yoga Teacher Training again!. The live sessions start January 24, 2024, and include workshops from guest teachers Hala Khouri, Dr. Gail Parker, Tracee Stanley, Lisa Weinert, and Dr. Christiane Wolf. This year I am so excited to welcome Indu Arora to our luminary panel of guest experts. We also have an amazing roster of teaching assistant mentors and an amazing cohort of folks signed up.

If you have ever been interested in deepening your restorative yoga practice or learning how to share this potent gift of deep rest, I hope you will consider joining us for this unique and accessible training which can be done live online or self-paced on-demand for up to one year!

Here are seven reasons to register now:

1. You’ll learn how to elicit the relaxation response through restorative poses.

Evidence-based research proves the benefits of restorative yoga to help soothe insomnia, stress and its effects, pain, trauma, mental health, and more.

2. You’ll enhance your understanding and experience of the deeper dimensions of yoga.

My curriculum includes modules on the koshas (sheaths that make up our physical, mental, emotional, and subtle bodies). You’ll receive an introduction to the koshas and how they can help organize and guide your approach to practice and teaching.

Plus, in a separate module, you’ll explore the foundations of yoga nidra with Tracee Stanley, which will help you fall asleep to your ego and awaken to your soul. Dr. Christiane Wolf will discuss the benefits of restorative practices as a tool for working with chronic pain in the mind and body on and off the yoga mat.

A new addition to our training this year, Indu Arora will guide you through Ayurvedic practices and pathways to set the conditions for experiencing optimal relaxation.

3. You’ll explore how restorative yoga can help us heal trauma.

Jillian will share the science of how this practice can help rewire our brains and slowly begin to feel at home in our bodies and minds. In addition, specialized modules led by guest teachers will zero in on trauma, resilience, and healing.

With Hala Khouri, you’ll learn basic theory, tools, and a sample practice to better support trauma survivors as they befriend their bodies and establish a sense of safety in their practice. You’ll also explore an introduction to somatic and trauma-informed yoga techniques that can be integrated within a relaxation or restorative yoga practice.

In expanded sessions with Dr. Gail Parker (5 hours!), you’ll explore restorative yoga as a self-care practice to help you find renewal, liberation, and inner peace, whether you are the cause, recipient of, or witness to racial stress and trauma.

4. If you are a teacher, this training will prepare you to create restorative experiences as well as deepen your own practice.

Jillian has been leading teacher trainings for over 20 years and continues to evolve her restorative yoga approach to keep up with the latest research. She has trained thousands of yoga teachers.

5. You’ll have access to the recordings for one year.

Whether you wish to take the training live and enjoy the community, practice exercise sessions, and open classroom meet-ups, or you wish to follow along on-demand, you’ll have plenty of time to review and engage with the material at your own pace.

6. You’ll receive a 108-hour certificate once you complete the modules and assignments.

You may submit your certificate to IAYT and YA for CECs.

7. You’ll experience support and connection from our global training community.

Although this training is virtual, there are many opportunities to connect with and receive support from fellow trainees, teaching assistant mentors, Jillian, and our guest experts. The live training schedule offers regular open-classroom meetups as well as large and small group discussions. There is also a private Facebook group for 2024 trainees that offers real-time connect and support before, during, and after the training.
8. Not interested in the training but would like to join a single module?
We are offering our guest teacher modules, as well as a few additional on-demand sessions, as a la carte workshops, and you can receive CECs for them.

Learn more & register